New pumps to tackle Otjiwarongo water woes

Two new pumps manufactured in Johannesburg have arrived in Namibia as the Otjiwarongo municipality moves to address low water pressure and intermittent supply affecting parts of the town.

Deputy town engineer Timothy Ggita told a municipal council meeting last Thursday the pumps had arrived in Windhoek on Thursday after being manufactured in Johannesburg.

The pumps are intended to replace ageing equipment at the town's pump station, where one of the two existing pumps has been operating at only 30% to 40% efficiency.

Ggita said the municipality had been relying heavily on the remaining pump after the other was taken out of service for repairs.

The remaining pump was consequently working harder than intended and had also lost efficiency, contributing to low water pressure in parts of Otjiwarongo for the past several weeks.

However, the new pumps cannot yet be installed.

Ggita said they still need to be modified to fit the municipality's existing pump station, including customised base structures and inlet and discharge connections.

The supplier has not yet given the municipality a definite timeframe for completing the modifications.

Ggita said the municipality is putting pressure on the supplier to complete the work as soon as possible.

The municipality is also waiting for the supplier to assess whether the old pump currently under inspection can be repaired or fitted with replacement parts.

Water disruptions

The pump problems come as Otjiwarongo recovers from a major water interruption that affected the town recently following a break on a Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) bulk-water pipeline.

The break occurred on 6 September, causing water levels in the two NamWater reservoirs supplying Otjiwarongo to fall sharply.

Ggita told councillors that the smaller reservoir dropped to 20%, while the larger reservoir fell to just 7%.

NamWater completed repairs last Monday, but the depleted reservoirs meant water could not immediately return to all consumers as the levels first had to recover.

The municipality subsequently introduced a pumping schedule to prevent demand from exceeding available supply while the reservoirs recovered.

By the time of the council meeting, the larger reservoir had recovered to 48%, while the smaller reservoir stood at about 82%.

The water troubles come against the backdrop of a separate N$15.8 million project to increase Otjiwarongo's water storage capacity.

The project includes a new three-million-litre reservoir, which will increase the municipality's existing storage capacity of about one million litres to roughly four million litres once the full system is operational.

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